Woman one of three suing health club after chlorine leak at swimming pool in Derbyshire
A 71-year-old woman is one of three people suing a health club for injuries after being exposed to excess levels of chlorine while swimming.
Enid Hollingworth has not stepped into a pool since January, when a chemical leak at Clifford Health Club and Spa in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, left her struggling to breathe.
27 people were exposed to high levels of chlorine in the spa area of the building. Ms Hollingworth was one of four people who ended up in hospital.
She said: "I was doing breaststroke and I was swimming underwater. So when I came up to take a breath, I just felt this toxic gas hit me on the side of my face and straight away, I couldn't breathe.
"My lungs were burning, so I was coughing and choking. I managed to, I don't know how... I was begging and pleading for somebody to help me to make it to the bottom of the steps to get out of the pool."
Ms Hollingworth still struggles to breathe and has been left with problems to her left eye.
She said: "It took four months for the cough to go away completely and now I've been left with problems with my left eyelid, it's drooping.
"When I wake up in the morning, it's barely open when my eye is tired. So now, I've got to have some surgery.
"I've been referred to the ocular surgeons to have the eyelid lifted - all because I thought I was doing something to keep me healthy."
Ms Hollingworth said she used to enjoy swimming: "I do have back problems. I've got scoliosis and osteoarthritis and that really eased some of the back pain for me, so it was really important.
"I used to do it once a week, but I did 50 lengths of the pool, swimming really quite fast for my age and I enjoyed it. It was exercise that I felt was doing me a lot of good."
Since the incident, Ms Hollingworth does not feel safe enough to enter a pool: "It's left me with far more back ache because I'm not able to loosen up my back by swimming.
"It's left me feeling quite anxious about it, I would like to get back to the pool but I just don't feel that I can."
Ahmed Jamad, from Express Solicitors, who represents the three chlorine leak victims, said: "We're taking legal action for personal injury.
"The law around that is that they breached common law, duty of care and also a statutory duty of care under section two of the Occupiers Liability Act.
"It basically imposes a duty on landowners and owners of the premises to ensure that any visitors on their lands or on their premises are kept reasonably safe, in the environment and not exposed to any sort of danger or hazards."
Clifford Health Club and Spa said last month human error was to blame for the leak - and internal investigations are ongoing.
Erewash Borough Council is continuing its own investigation.
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ITV News
19 hours ago
- ITV News
Woman one of three suing health club after chlorine leak at swimming pool in Derbyshire
A 71-year-old woman is one of three people suing a health club for injuries after being exposed to excess levels of chlorine while swimming. Enid Hollingworth has not stepped into a pool since January, when a chemical leak at Clifford Health Club and Spa in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, left her struggling to breathe. 27 people were exposed to high levels of chlorine in the spa area of the building. Ms Hollingworth was one of four people who ended up in hospital. She said: "I was doing breaststroke and I was swimming underwater. So when I came up to take a breath, I just felt this toxic gas hit me on the side of my face and straight away, I couldn't breathe. "My lungs were burning, so I was coughing and choking. I managed to, I don't know how... I was begging and pleading for somebody to help me to make it to the bottom of the steps to get out of the pool." Ms Hollingworth still struggles to breathe and has been left with problems to her left eye. She said: "It took four months for the cough to go away completely and now I've been left with problems with my left eyelid, it's drooping. "When I wake up in the morning, it's barely open when my eye is tired. So now, I've got to have some surgery. "I've been referred to the ocular surgeons to have the eyelid lifted - all because I thought I was doing something to keep me healthy." Ms Hollingworth said she used to enjoy swimming: "I do have back problems. I've got scoliosis and osteoarthritis and that really eased some of the back pain for me, so it was really important. "I used to do it once a week, but I did 50 lengths of the pool, swimming really quite fast for my age and I enjoyed it. It was exercise that I felt was doing me a lot of good." Since the incident, Ms Hollingworth does not feel safe enough to enter a pool: "It's left me with far more back ache because I'm not able to loosen up my back by swimming. "It's left me feeling quite anxious about it, I would like to get back to the pool but I just don't feel that I can." Ahmed Jamad, from Express Solicitors, who represents the three chlorine leak victims, said: "We're taking legal action for personal injury. "The law around that is that they breached common law, duty of care and also a statutory duty of care under section two of the Occupiers Liability Act. "It basically imposes a duty on landowners and owners of the premises to ensure that any visitors on their lands or on their premises are kept reasonably safe, in the environment and not exposed to any sort of danger or hazards." Clifford Health Club and Spa said last month human error was to blame for the leak - and internal investigations are ongoing. Erewash Borough Council is continuing its own investigation.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Woman takes legal action for chlorine exposure at spa
A woman has said she is taking legal action after being exposed to excess levels of chlorine while swimming at a pool in Derbyshire. Enid Hollingworth, 71, is one of four people taken to hospital after a chemical leak at Clifford's Gym and Spa in Regent Street, Long Eaton, on 7 Hollingworth said she was awaiting surgery on her eye as a consequence of the exposure and added "lessons need to be learned".The owner of the gym, Mark Clifford said internal investigations remained ongoing and it was "not therefore appropriate to provide any further comment". "I think it's important for everybody to feel safe when they go for a swim, when they think they are doing something healthy."People are dealing with very dangerous chemicals, chlorine is a very dangerous chemical, and I think it needs to be thoroughly looked into."It just can't be allowed to happen again to anyone else," Mrs Hollingworth said. Clifford Health Club and Spa said the leak in January happened after staff had failed to follow correct said there had been a build-up of dry chlorine in the pipework of a hydrotherapy pool which was undergoing Hollingworth is one of three people who are now seeking compensation. 'Held accountable' Ahmed Jarad, associate solicitor at Express Solicitors, said: "We were approached by three clients to take legal action under common law negligence and breach of section two of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957."Ultimately it's to make sure that this doesn't happen again to anyone else to make sure that the health club are held accountable."People expect to go to their local health club to better their health, not damage it, and I think unfortunately on this occasion that wasn't the case."Mrs Hollingworth, said she was struggling to get back into a swimming pool after the chlorine exposure left her with a four-month-long cough and problems with her left eye."I don't know how I'm going to react when I smell the chlorine, so I really don't have the confidence to go back to swimming and that was a big part of my fitness regime."I suffer from back pain and I have osteoarthritis arthritis and the swimming was really good but I still feel that I haven't got the courage to go back."Erewash Borough Council said its investigation into the leak was continuing.
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Foul-mouthed chef wrongly sacked because she had anxiety, tribunal rules
A junior chef who launched a foul-mouthed rant in front of spa guests has been awarded more than £13,000 after a tribunal ruled her outburst was triggered by anxiety. Abbie Garner was dismissed after she was overheard shouting 'you f---ing made me love you then you cheated on me, you c---' at a colleague. However, a tribunal ruled the outburst was linked to her health problems, which included anxiety and depression. She has since been awarded £13,455.91. Of the sum, £11,000 was paid to reflect 'the injury to the claimant's feelings as a result of the discrimination found'. The row broke out in front of guests near the spa reception at the four-star Thorpe Hall Hotel and Spa in Peterborough on Aug 9, 2023. It was sparked by a personal argument with a fellow chef she had been in a relationship with, the tribunal heard. Complaints were made to reception and the chef was called in for a disciplinary hearing. During the hearing, Ms Garner gave abrupt responses and asked whether her ex-partner would also be punished. 'Substantial disadvantage due to her disability' Notes from the hearing recorded her saying: 'I have apologised. What else do you want?' The tribunal ruled that she was disabled under the Equality Act and said her inability to control her anger 'arose in consequence of her disability'. It said: 'The claimant is disabled by virtue of anxiety, depression, and polycystic ovary syndrome. 'The claimant relies on her conduct on August 9, the incident, and August 18, her abrupt responses in the disciplinary meeting, as things arising from her disability. 'Namely an inability to regulate her mood or control her anger due to her disabilities.' It added that Ms Garner 'was put at a substantial disadvantage compared to someone without her disability '. Judge C Lewis concluded the hotel failed in its duty to make reasonable adjustments by not seeking medical evidence before dismissing her. 'We are satisfied that it would have been a reasonable adjustment for the respondent to have sought medical evidence,' the tribunal said. 'We find that there was a reasonable prospect this could have led to a different outcome.' The judge found her 'continued employment posed a risk to the respondent's reputation', but said this did not justify failing to properly consider whether her conduct was linked to her mental health.
